It may still be spring, but officials from Campbellsville University and Lindsey Wilson College met recently with members of Columbia Baptist Church to discuss plans for Operation Christmas Child.

Last year, the two schools' freshman classes combined to collect 1,077 shoeboxes stuffed with toys, school supplies and personal hygiene items to be shipped to disadvantaged children around the world. This year, the two schools hope to exceed that number.

Want to have some fun this summer? Come join the One World, Many Stories Summer Reading Program. And, yes, I mean fun ... reading for entertainment, no test on what you have read, just reading for the enjoyment of it, and finding new books that you might have never thought about reading before.

Campbellsville University will host the 2012 annual conference of the Kentucky Political Science Association next March. John Chowning will preside over the meeting.

Chowning, CU's vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president, was recently elected president of the organization, which a statewide organization made up of professionals in the field of political science.

Free GED testing in Kentucky will end June 30, but prospective GED test-takers still have time to prepare for and pass the test. Kentuckians taking the test before June 30 will not have to pay the usual $55 fee, which is being paid by Kentucky Adult Education, a unit of the Council on Postsecondary Education.

Campbellsville University won honorable mention in the Billion Acts of Green University Challenge. CU won in the Division B group, for schools with fewer than 4,000 students.

On April 18, CU students, faculty and staff planted serviceberry trees and flowers in honor of Earth Day. Campbellsville Mayor Tony Young and Taylor County Judge/Executive Eddie Rogers were on hand, as well as a local fourth-grade class.

Taylor County High School students recently competed in the Kentucky All-State Art Competition at Dixie Heights High School. Each of the three who competed had previously received a first-place award at the Caveland Regional Competition at Lindsey Wilson College to advance to the state level. Participants were Cassie Gray competing in graphic design, Matt Moosmann in digital art and Ameka Menes in painting. Moosmann received a first-place award at the state competition, the highest possible.